Rabbi Yechiel Z. Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, has devoted the past 25 years to building bridges of understanding between Christians and Jews and broad support for the State of Israel. He is recognized as the world’s leading Jewish authority on evangelical Christians.
Rabbi Eckstein received Orthodox Rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University in New York. He holds master’s degrees from Yeshiva University and Columbia University, where he also completed studies for his doctorate. Rabbi Eckstein has served on the faculties of Columbia University, Chicago Theological Seminary and Northern Baptist Seminary. He currently serves on the executive committee of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and on the boards of directors of the Jewish Agency for Israel and Keren Hayesod.
Working Around The World
Prior to founding The Fellowship, Rabbi Eckstein was national co-director of interreligious affairs for the Anti-Defamation League. In that role, he broke new ground by forging partnerships with evangelical Christians. Recognizing the potential of these strong interfaith relationships, in 1983 he established The Fellowship to help Christians and Jews work together on projects promoting the safety and security of Jews in Israel and around the world.
In recent years, The Fellowship has provided more than $100 million to programs helping Jews emigrate from the Former Soviet Union, Argentina and Ethiopia and resettle in Israel, fighting poverty in Israel and helping impoverished elderly Jews and orphans in the Former Soviet Union.
 Rabbi Eckstein assumed the chairmanship of Stand for Israel, a Fellowship program launched in 2002 to mobilize U.S. Christian backing for
Israel. Stand for Israel drew nearly 1,000 Christian leaders and grassroots activists to the first Washington, DC briefing in April 2003, where they met major opinion leaders and learned grassroots strategies for advocating for Israel. In January 2006, SFI’s fourth annual International Day of Prayer and Solidarity with Israel mobilized millions of Christians in thousands of churches throughout the United States and around the world to pray and act for the welfare of Israel and the Jewish people.
In Israel, Rabbi Eckstein serves as an unofficial adviser to the Prime Minister and recently was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of the State of Israel, with special emphasis on Israel’s relationships with evangelical communities in Latin America. He also chairs the City of Jerusalem’s Public Commission for Strengthening Worldwide Ties to Jerusalem. Working through Keren Hayesod, a quasi-governmental agency, he is Israel’s liaison to evangelical Christian communities throughout the world. Recently, he has worked with evangelical leaders and congregations in Germany, Holland, Chile, Panama and Peru, and co-sponsored with Keren Hayesod a meeting of European Christian leaders at which Prime Minister Sharon presented ways their communities can fight anti-Semitism and demonstrate solidarity with Israel.
Leading Religious Discourse
 Rabbi Eckstein was the catalyst behind the first Evangelical-Jewish Leadership Conference, as well as its coordinator, and has served as Jewish representative at the National Day of Prayer. He has opened sessions of the U.S. Senate with prayer, conducted a Passover seder for
U.S. senators and delivered the benediction with President Clinton at the dedication ceremony for the memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, D.C. the first rabbi in history to deliver the benediction at the dedication of a presidential memorial.
Rabbi Eckstein is a leading advocate of religious freedom worldwide. He has traveled to China to work for the freedom of imprisoned Christian pastors and to press the cause of religious liberty. In 1995, he brought the first Torah scroll to Uzbekistan since the Communist regime banned religious practice there.
A Prolific Author
He has written columns and been featured in such publications as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time, U.S. News and World Report, The Jerusalem Post, The Forward and People magazine. He is a frequent guest on television and radio programs nationwide, including CNBC’s “Hardball” and PBS’ “Now with Bill Moyers.”
Rabbi Eckstein is the author of six highly acclaimed books: “What You Should Know About Jews and Judaism,” “Understanding Evangelicals: A Guide for the Jewish Community,” “Ask the Rabbi,” “Five Questions Most Frequently Asked About Jews and Judaism,” “How Firm a Foundation: A Gift of Jewish Wisdom For Christians and Jews” and “The Journey Home.”
 In addition, he is a renowned Israeli Hasidic singer who has recorded six CDs. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he performed for Israeli troops on the Syrian front and in hospitals.
Rabbi Eckstein has received the Economic Forum’s prestigious Jerusalem Prize, the Community Service Leadership Award from Yeshiva College, and more than 20 other awards from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Chamah, Colel Chabad, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, Israel’s Union of Local Authorities and other organizations. In 2002, he was inducted into the JDC Warburg Society. |
